The Cavalry will ride or skate into The Rink in Battle Creek this November. Quoted in the story, Interstate Hockey League commissioner Drake MacKenzie says "“Every town deserves a good hockey team,” he says. “We want to make professional hockey stick in Battle Creek.”

The fledgling league with 12 teams currently across Michigan will hope to succeed in Battle Creek, where a decade ago, The Revolution, couldn't after three seasons. And where several minor league baseball teams and basketball teams failed, too.

This isn't MacKenzie's first foray into forming a hockey league. He formed the Union Hockey League several years ago, but the business model didn't work. With the Interstate League, he expects the team's roster will be from players with a 30 or so mile radius. After paying a registration fee, players will "split the pot" so to speak, sharing 80% of the gate.

The story says Bellvue's David Darkey will run the team and Austin Hickner will coach it.

On one level, this story is so hockey; the love of the game that engenders such passion for it, at it's grassroots level. Maybe this effort will buck local history.